New UK FCA webpage on non-financial misconduct in financial services

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a new webpage setting out how firms should prepare for the new rules and guidance to help tackle non‑financial misconduct (NFM), which will come into force on 1 September. The FCA explains that NFM includes behaviour that is not of a clearly financial nature such as bullying, harassment and violence. It notes that if left unchecked, such conduct can harm individuals, firms and confidence in financial services. The changes are implemented through amendments to the FCA Handbook set out in policy statement PS25/23, published in December 2025.

In particular, the FCA is amending the Code of Conduct sourcebook (COCON) by introducing a new rule (COCON 1.1.7FR), which extends the scope of the conduct rules in non-banking firms to cover bullying, harassment or violence against colleagues, where it relates to an individual's role and where there is a sufficient work-related link. The rule will not apply retrospectively and does not extend the FCA's regulatory remit beyond Senior Managers and Certification Regime financial activities.

The FCA is also amending the Fit and Proper sourcebook (FIT) to provide additional guidance on how firms should assess NFM when determining fitness and propriety. The FCA makes clear that COCON and FIT operate separately: the new COCON rule focuses on certain work-related misconduct, while the new FIT guidance clarifies how firms can take a broader range of NFM into account when assessing fitness and propriety. This includes certain conduct outside the workplace, including private life, social media use and unproven allegations.

Ahead of 1 September, firms should review whether they need to update their approach to: (i) staff policies; (ii) conduct breach reporting; (iii) FIT assessments; and (iv) regulatory references. Firms should also ensure staff and managers understand how the changes apply to them. Firms will not be required to carry out retrospective analysis to check whether they have correctly determined past conduct rule breaches nor revise past FIT assessments. They also do not need to monitor employees' private lives or social media accounts, investigate allegations about employees' private lives if they are trivial, implausible or irrelevant nor do anything contrary to privacy, employment or other relevant law.

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